Understanding social dynamics in Europe during the pandemic – DYNPANDEMIC

Since January 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic has changed the world. The time is now ripe for social and behavioural scientists to contribute to knowledge on the current COVID-19 crisis. In this perspective, the objective of our project is to study social dynamics during the pandemic in Europe. In particular, we wish to explore the evolution of individual perceptions and behaviours (such as adherence to recommendations, social connectedness, and trust in the government and the health system to handle the crisis) as well as wellbeing and mental health. Importantly, these outcomes and their evolutions may vary significantly between countries. Moreover, some population groups are certainly more vulnerable to the crisis than others, and we also aim to explore the factors underlying these inequalities, including occupation, socioeconomic status, gender, age, and the presence of a pre-existing health condition. To this end, since May 2020, we have collected a unique panel dataset containing information on individual wellbeing and mental health, as well as perceptions and attitudes, and demographic and socio-economic characteristics, in six European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden). These countries differ in a number of ways: the outbreak and intensity of the pandemic, the introduction and extent of lockdown measures, economic performance in recent decades, and the fiscal and social policies that the respective governments put in place to support the socio-economic groups most hit by lockdown restrictions. Our data are representative of the general population in these six countries. Our goal is to continue the collection of these data and follow respondents over time in 2021 as the pandemic runs its course. Our research team consists of seven senior Researchers or Professors from four different institutions across Europe, with long-standing records of publications in the field of the proposal. As we believe that the (r)evolution of the pandemic cannot be entirely successfully analysed without the combination of methods and findings, our approach is multidisciplinary and combines knowledge from Economics, Law, and Psychology. Our analysis will provide evidence-based policy recommendations to increase adherence to recommendations (such as social distancing and mask-wearing) and reduce social inequalities, with a special focus on France, in a comparative perspective.